Michael Kors Again Leads in NYFW Social Engagement, Study Says

Click here to read the full article.

Michael Kors once again took home the top spot in social engagement during New York Fashion Week, according to ListenFirst, a social media analytics platform.

Kors has scored first place for the last three seasons.

More from WWD

• Tennis Player Naomi Osaka Makes Her NYFW Debut

• How to Watch the Coach Fall 2020 Fashion Show

• How to Watch the Michael Kors Collection Fall 2020 Show Online

This time around, Kors had an engagement score of 2,952,861, down 50 percent from a year ago. (Last February, Kors started the week with its spring 2019 campaign party featuring Bella Hadid, followed by a steady drumbeat of teaser posts across social media. It culminated with its Seventies-themed runway show featuring Barry Manilow.)

The social engagement score is based on the volume of post responses and fan growth across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and hashtag/handle mentions on Twitter, and is benchmarked against fall/winter 2019 fashion week (Feb 4. to Feb. 13, 2019). This month’s survey tracks the period from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12.

Seventy-four percent of the social engagement around Michael Kors during NYFW came from Facebook, with the brand previewing individual pieces from its show on social media ahead of time, such as a MKC Monogramme crossbody bag, which generated 653,424 responses on Facebook before anyone in the industry had seen the piece.

In second place was Tom Ford, with an engagement score of 2,112,699, up 80 percent from last year. This season, Ford showed in Los Angeles with front row guests such as Jennifer Lopez, Renee Zellweger, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lil Nas X, Kris Jenner and Jeff Bezos, but his show was considered part of NYFW for this survey.

Third place went to Christian Siriano, who showed Feb. 6, and had an engagement score of 1,088,061, up 98 percent from a year ago.

Fourth place went to Coach, with a social engagement score of 881,681, up 51 percent versus a year ago. Rounding out the top five was Oscar de la Renta, with a social engagement score of 759.724, up 44 percent versus a year ago.

Carolina Herrera came in sixth place with a social engagement score of 545,612, up 42 percent versus last year. Marc Jacobs scored seventh place, with a score of 341,546, down 43 percent versus a year ago; Tory Burch was eighth place, with 288,242, off 14 percent; Zimmerman, ninth, with 237,084, off 39 percent versus a year, ago, and Vera Wang was 10th place with 147, 817, and didn’t show a year ago.

“The big story around New York Fashion Week around social media this year was how the moved-up Oscars impacted the conversation around fashion,” said Tracy David, chief marketing officer of ListenFirst. “Brands like Oscar de la Renta who dressed nominees like Scarlett Johansson, and Christian Siriano (who unofficially showed at Fashion Week), who dressed performer Chrissy Metz for the Oscars, saw bigger social media lifts from their Oscar-related posts than their New York Fashion Week content. For designers who were able to multitask, the unusual timing of the Oscars meant a wider than usual audience would be paying attention to their brand around the unveiling of a new collection,” said David.

Coach’s showing was attributed to a full, social media-facing strategy around NYFW, also previewing pieces ahead of time on Facebook such as a Circle Crossbody handbag that generated 33,917 responses. In addition, Coach streamed its runway show live on Facebook and shared runway images on Instagram after the fact.

Having dressed Johansson for the Oscars, de la Renta actually received 53 percent of its engagement from the Oscars and had a big week on social media thanks to its NYFW presence. De la Renta streamed its runway show held at the New York Public Library on YouTube, which got 10,300 views, while an Instagram video showing the behind the scenes of getting ready for the show generated 12,979 responses.

Meantime, Herrera had success around an Instagram first strategy for NYFW. With 91 percent of its engagement score coming from Instagram, the brand shared a photo of each look from the fall 2020 collection.

Marc Jacobs got a lift on Instagram around multiple Fashion Week collections. Even as it streamed its fall 2020 runway show on Instagram Live, a post showing Lili Reinhart wearing a spring 2020 dress at the Vanity Fair Oscar party generated 30,711 responses, according to ListenFirst.

Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.